Chapter 84:

Prodding

Come the weekend, the two were finally able to meet privately within the Room of Requirement to work on the Cabinet. Draco looked at the book Ariella had brought him, his notes, and began muttering spells. She sat in a chair randomly placed within the room, a sheaf of parchment next to her, so she could take her own notes as he tried different spells.

"Is it secure? I mean, is the actual cabinet fully functioning? Not magically, I mean, but are there parts of the physical cabinet that are loose?" she asked.

"As far as I know," he answered back promptly. "Now read me that next spell on the list."

She just nodded, reading aloud from the various pieces of parchment around them, praying something would work.

After an hour with no progress, Draco sat down in another chair, running a hand through his hair in frustration. As he paused in his concentration, he noticed the bond's persistent insistence. He sighed softly to himself; he still hadn't addressed the Pansy issue with her. But he couldn't keep letting the bond nag at her…at them. Not for this. Now was as good a time as any; it's not like they would be interrupted here.

"Why'd you tell her about us?"

"Sorry?" Ariella replied, puzzled as she looked up.

"Pansy. Why'd you tell her?"

"She wouldn't get off my back. I had to say something to her."

"You didn't have to tell her you're my servant."

"She wouldn't listen to me, Draco, she wouldn't stop taunting me. I've told her for years I'm not interested in you like that. It…it just came out. I'm sorry."

"Next time, just tell me if there's a problem."

"You've known there's a problem. Nothing you say has had any effect before! Besides – I can't keep relying on you to solve my tiffs between your classmates…or your girlfriend in this case."

"Ariella, that's my job."

"It shouldn't be," she murmured quietly. Draco just let it go. He knew it wasn't directed at him per say.

"When did that happen?" she asked suddenly in the silence.

"Pardon?"

"When did she officially become your girlfriend? She's only been all over you for the past few years."

Draco snorted. "I'm aware. I gave in. It happened over the summer."

"Oh. Are you…relatively happy? All things considered?"

Draco looked up, silently somewhat touched, yet answered sarcastically and annoyed all the same. "My father's in prison, the Dark Lord is all but living in my house and has given me a task. What do you think?"

His servant jolted back a bit. "I'm sorry. I'm just…I'm worried about you, alright!"

Draco's head shot up, his eyes widening. "There's nothing to worry about. I promise."

"Yeah, okay. And you didn't just give me a list of minimum three things that are going wrong this year? You said it yourself, it's dangerous right now!"

"I'm aware. I'm…grateful for your concern, but…" he sighed, pausing, not knowing what else to say.

"I'll do what I can for you, Draco. I promise; no matter what, I'll help you. I don't want to see you tortured."

"Thank you, Ariella."

Silence fell between them. She felt bad for bringing it up, but it had to…he had to know that she was willing to go as far as needed to make sure he'd be safe.

"You're forgiven for telling her, by the way; I meant to say it earlier."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Why didn't you ask me to take care of the bond?"

"I figured she would've come straight to you to confirm, therefore, I thought you would've known immediately. Besides, I – I didn't think you wanted to. And it's not like it was all that bad yet."

Draco sat up, placing his forearms on his knees so that he could fully focus on her; as much as he wished he hadn't started this conversation, as much as he didn't wish to speak thoroughly about this, he knew he needed to, that she need to understand his mission wasn't any reason for her to conceal requests of the bond from him.

"You're right; she did come to me right away. And I did confirm it; there wasn't any use denying it. I figured you hadn't come to me right away yourself simply because either you didn't know where I was or it wasn't urgent enough. But it's been a few days and you still haven't come to me."

Ariella wrung her hands as she looked down at them. "I didn't want to impose. You're stressed and I…like I said, I wasn't sure if you'd so readily agree. I know you don't want people knowing. I didn't mean to tell her, but I didn't know what else to tell her to get her off my back."

"I understand; Pansy can be quite persistent. I should've known she would come after you. What I'm more concerned about is why you didn't think I'd forgive you; that I wouldn't want to deal with the bond."

"I know you're still upset with me for the past few months and you're being forced into these…horrid situations. It seemed trivial in comparison, at least this time. I'm trying not to get in your way, to make things harder for you. You're under enough pressure as is, you don't need the bond…me…making this worse.

Finally, he understood, though he didn't particularly like it. "Next time, just come to me. Explain your side and I'll decide what should happen. It doesn't have to be immediately, situation depending, but it shouldn't become a waiting game again."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you," she murmured.

Draco just nodded, sitting back again. "Now, is there anything else in there?"

"No; at least, not that I've found so far."

"What are we missing?" he muttered under his breath.

"Is it fully connected? I mean magically?"

"Feels like it."

"Then it's probably on the other side. Is there any way to check?"

"No. Not until we can get back into the shop."

"Would you want me to go? I can see if I can get permission to get off–grounds ; it shouldn't be hard."

"Ar – are you insane?"

"No. I can't be of much use here, why not try to be there? Even if it's just to scope it out. Obviously, I can't do much else."

Draco looked up at her, puzzled. "What are you talking about? You could see whether it's connected, couldn't you? I'd tell you what to look for, of course."

"Draco, I – I don't have my wand."

"What? Since when?"

"The battle at the Ministry."

"What? Ariella, why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew," she replied simply, sitting down, looking down at her lap.

"No, I…I probably did, but I didn't think it through. Where is it?"

"Dunno. I fell unconscious at the Ministry and haven't seen it since."

"I'll see if I can find out what happened to it. You should have it right now."

"I don't…thank you, but I don't know if that's the best idea."

"Why?"

"Because of the – the way things are right now."

"Which is exactly why you do need your wand. You need to have a way to defend yourself if need be. You can't against me or the Dark Lord, but if need be, you have my permission to defend against anyone you need to, whether that be a Death Eater, and Order Member, a classmate. As long as it's not explicitly forbidden by the bond, you have permission to take care of yourself."

"Thank you, Sir. I do appreciate that."

I shouldn't have had to give you permission for that in the first place, he thought bitterly, but he didn't dare voice this aloud. "And if there's an issue because of you defending yourself, just come to me. I'll take care of it – the bond, I mean."

He paused, causing her to look up at him. "This year isn't going to be easy; you know this already. Just be cautious and careful; don't draw attention to yourself if at all possible. That being said, try not to ignore the bond just because you want to make my job a bit easier. The bond might be the easiest task to take care of this year, all things considered. I won't see you punished because I wasn't willing to acknowledge it."

Ariella swallowed hard. "Thank you, Sir…Draco. And you don't have to worry; I don't plan on becoming the centre of attention."

This time, she paused, and Draco looked up. "Ariella? You can ask whatever it is."

"Does your position change now that your father is in Azkaban?"

"I don't know. He isn't dead, just…unavailable for you to serve. So far as I know, he…he still remains head Master. If I were of age, this might have changed, but since I'm not…I don't know. You can go look into it, if you wish."

She just nodded shakily. Draco sighed. "Let's get back to this, shall we. There must be something we can do from this end."

Ariella wasn't shocked to find herself back in the library later that week. She was trying to look for anything that might help – for herself or for the bond. Reaching up for a book that read Artefacts and Ancestry she found it was just out of her reach. Suddenly, a hand was reaching over hers, handing the book to her.

"Thanks," she said quietly, turning to face her assistant. "Neville!"

"No problem. How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. And you?"

"All right. I have a free period right now and was wondering if we could talk a bit?"

"Er – alright," she conceded, leading them both to a nearby table. "What can I do for you?"

"First, I thought you should know; last spring, Harry told us about your bonded servitude to the Malfoys."

"Who's us?"

"Myself, though I already knew of course, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley. He didn't go into much detail, but he explained that was why you had the Dark Mark…that it wasn't by choice and that you were bound to serve the Malfoys or risk severe punishment."

"Well, that explains it," she muttered. Seeing her (former) classmate's questioning gaze, she answered. "The twins apologized to me over the summer when I visited their shop."

"Ah; makes sense."

"You said 'first', so is there something else?"

Neville nodded, suddenly looking nervous. "Last year, you…you fended off the Cruciatus Curse. You said it was legal, but wouldn't say more; even after Skeeter's article."

She nodded, looking down at her shaking hands. "The Malfoys can use me however they like; they can use whatever spells they wish on me, without risk of reprimand. If they give permission to someone else to do so, then said person can't get in trouble with the law either. I could fend off Draco's because it wasn't all that strong; and even then, I could still feel it, just…differently. Well, that, and I specifically asked permission to use magic against him."

"You can't defend yourself?"

Ariella shook her head. "I'm not really supposed to harm anyone who's status is above mine, but Draco's…given me some leeway with that."

"What does it feel like? The Cr –Cruciatus? You sound like it's nothing new to you."

Ariella shuddered. "Like the books say. It's impossible to describe; your body is overloaded with pain and any movement makes it worse, though you can't help but move under it. And yes, I've been under it many times."

This time, Neville shuddered. "Thank you for answering," he said quietly.

"You're welcome. I – I am sorry…about your parents, I mean."

"You…you know?"

"I've known for a while. I overheard about it through the Malfoys, though it didn't quite click until I knew more about the Curse."

Slowly, the Gryffindor nodded. "Thank you for not telling anyone."

"I wouldn't; I know what it's like not to want people to…to give you pity for something you had no say in. Not that…not that our situations are the same, but…"

"I understand what you're saying; I can't even imagine having to be bound to someone like that."

"Most people don't get it because they don't have to. If you have a question, just ask; if I can answer, I will."

"Thank you for answering my questions; I know that couldn't have been easy."

Ariella shrugged. "Yours honestly weren't the worse I've gotten asked; and they're at least not encroaching towards setting off the bond."

"I can ask a question that would do that?"

"If I tried to answer, yes."

"I didn't realize…I've never heard of a spell that can even enslave a human before I learned about you."

"Mr. Malfoy pulled out an almost extinct slavery curse and brought it back; lucky me, I suppose," she said with a wry smile.

Neville snorted just as the bell rang. "Good luck; it was good to see you."

"Good to see you, too. Good luck with your classes this year," she replied.

Once he was out of sight, she opened the book and began to read, searching for anything that could possibly help her younger master with his task, praying she would find something; they…he, rather, needed to make progress and soon. Briefly, she wondered if she were allowed to take a reprimand from the Dark Lord for him. Swallowing hard, she forced herself away from her thoughts and towards the book; if she wasn't allowed in class, the least she could do was use the time wisley.